When people
define the word “Folktales”, it seems like an interesting subject to read about it and I would always think about a good story and so many creative imaginary
characters. Based on what I read from this course, I would define the term
“Folk/Literary Fairytales” as a fantasy classic tale or story that include many
of the fantasized characters and the cultures of the classic tales are much
different from one another and it is still being passed down from generations
to generations.
In the very beginning of this
course, I find folk/fairytale to be very interesting and informative. The
reason I wanted to take this course is because I was interested in getting to
know what was behind the true origins of the folk/fairytales. Ever
since I was a child, I have read many different fairytale books that involve
fantasy creatures, magic spells, illusions, dimensions, sad, and happy
endings. At first, I always thought that fairytales is mostly intended for
children because there are many magical creatures such as goblins, dragons,
elves, gnomes, princess, fairies, witches, wizards and so much more. I had no
idea there existed the original versions that is written by the original author
compared to the printed versions (such as Disney). For the
first time ever, I have been informed that the fairytales I’ve known from my
childhood are not nearly the same as the original classical folk/fairytales
written by the original author because both the printed version and the
original version had different endings & cultures and at the same time I
felt that it nearly ruined my childhood.
This illustration is done by
George Melies, it was published in 1901, and it came from a short silent film called "Barbe Bleu". It portrays Bluebeard's wife who
opened up a room at the end of the hall that she's banned from looking in and
she finds all the bodies of the previous wives in a bloody mess. She decided to
open up that room because she couldn't control her curiosity.
"Bluebeard" was first written down by Charles Perrault who also wrote "Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella", and "Little Red Riding Hood" and is known as the father of the modern fairy tale. But Bluebeard is remarkable for being a fairy tale without much magic; it's very much about real people. It also reads as fairly modern in some ways. It was written in the 17th century, but it's about a man who goes on a bunch of business trips and his smart, curious unsatisfied wife! Bluebeard is rich, generous and owns several beautifully furnished homes. He's also lonely and thought of as ugly (indicated by the hideous blue beard.) And he has a terrible reputation for marrying frequently and having these wives then mysteriously disappear. A young, unnamed heroine marries him anyway, with much pressure from her impoverished family. He gives her a full set of keys for exploring all the castle's innumerable treasures as he goes off on his frequent business trips, but he also gives her one small key to a room at the end of the hall that she's banned from looking in. Temptation! So, of course, she has to have a peek. She does and finds all the bodies of the previous wives in a bloody mess. A spot of blood gets on the key, and the only fantastic element of this story is that the spot won't disappear. Once Bluebeard sees the bloodied key he has to kill her, at least according to his rules.
